You don’t need many pubs to make a great London pub crawl. How about three historic Thames pubs connected by the same story?
This route begins beside the old river stairs of Wapping, follows the legends of pirates and Execution Dock along the Thames, and finishes with one last pint in a tiny Limehouse pub with a Dickens connection and a few surprises of its own.
How Much Walking Is Involved?
The full route covers about 1.5 miles from Wapping to Limehouse. Google Maps puts the actual walking at roughly 30–35 minutes, but allow about three hours for the crawl so you have time for a pint and a look around at each of the three pubs.
This crawl works best during daylight hours, when you can see Wapping Old Stairs, the Thames foreshore and the riverside details that connect the three stops.
You won’t need detailed walking directions here. The pubs follow a fairly straightforward eastward route along the Thames, and your map app can handle the small turns between stops.
1. The Town of Ramsgate — Start Beside Execution Dock
Image credit: Town of Ramsgate, Wapping by Chris Gunns, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (Modified from original).
Begin at the Town of Ramsgate, a long, narrow Wapping pub tucked between the old riverside warehouses and the Thames.
Look for Harvey’s Sussex Best on the handpump. If it’s pouring, make that your first pint. Enjoy the pub before heading back outside, because one of the most important pieces of this crawl is immediately beside it.
When you’ve finished your pint, head back outside.
Immediately beside the pub, a narrow passage leads down Wapping Old Stairs toward the Thames. Follow it.
These old river stairs bring you into the landscape associated with Execution Dock, where pirates and other maritime offenders convicted by the Admiralty courts were once executed.
But can you stand here and say this was the exact location of Execution Dock? No. The precise location of the historic gallows remains uncertain, although the area around Wapping Old Stairs is one of the places traditionally associated with it.
What you can see at the bottom of Wapping Old Stairs also depends on the Thames tide, with more of the foreshore exposed around low tide.
Stand at the bottom and look back toward the riverfront. The pubs, stairs and pirate stories weren’t separate attractions. They belonged to the same working waterfront.
Explore the full Traveler’s Checklist Guide to The Town of Ramsgate Pub →
Then head back up and continue east through Wapping toward the Prospect of Whitby. Let your map app handle the small turns.
But first, there’s another pub you’re going to walk right past.
And What About the Captain Kidd?
The Captain Kidd is hard to miss. It occupies an old Thames-side warehouse and leans into Wapping’s pirate history, with nautical interiors and a riverside terrace.
But the Captain Kidd itself is a much newer arrival, opening as a pub only in the late 1980s. For this historic Thames pub crawl, let’s keep walking.
Continue toward the Prospect of Whitby.
2. The Prospect of Whitby — Follow the Pirate Stories Downriver
You haven’t left the old maritime landscape behind, but the Prospect of Whitby puts much more of it right in front of you.
Step across the old flagstones and order a pint of Abbot Ale from the handpump. The pewter-topped bar, timbered rooms and river just beyond give this stop a completely different feel from the Town of Ramsgate.
The pub was once known as the Devil’s Tavern, a suitably grim name for a place long associated with sailors, smugglers and the rougher side of London’s old working river.
When you’re ready, make your way toward the riverside terrace.
Look out over the Thames and you’ll find an unmistakably theatrical gallows hanging over the riverbank. Another Execution Dock claim?
The gallows is a replica, and just as at Wapping Old Stairs, there is no way to point to this exact spot and say with certainty, Execution Dock was here.
That uncertainty is part of what makes this stretch of Wapping so interesting. You’re walking through the real landscape of London’s old maritime courts, sailors, smugglers and executions—even if the precise location of the famous gallows has been lost.
Explore the full Traveler’s Checklist Guide to The Prospect of Whitby Pub →
Ready for the final pint? Continue east toward Limehouse and let your map app guide you to The Grapes.
3. The Grapes — Finish with a Pint in Limehouse
Image credit: Town of Ramsgate, Wapping by Chris Gunns, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (Modified from original).
By the time you reach The Grapes, you’ve left Wapping behind and entered Limehouse, but you haven’t left the old working Thames behind.
Charles Dickens knew this waterfront and drew on a riverside tavern here in his novel Our Mutual Friend. The Grapes has occupied this stretch of Limehouse riverfront in one form or another for centuries.
The pub itself is tiny and narrow, with its old rooms stretching back toward the Thames. For an especially unexpected theme twist, take a look behind the bar for Gandalf’s staff from The Lord of the Rings. In case you haven’t heard, actor Sir Ian McKellen—Gandalf himself—is one of the pub’s owners.
When it’s time for your final pint, check the handpumps for Timothy Taylor’s Landlord. It’s one of The Grapes’ regular cask ales, and if it’s pouring, make that pint number three.
Take your pint toward the back of the pub, where the narrow rooms eventually reach a tiny terrace over the Thames.
Explore the full Traveler’s Checklist Guide to The Grapes Pub →
Keep Exploring London’s Historic Riverside Pubs
Want another pint along the Thames? Explore all 8 historic London riverside pubs worth seeking out, from Bankside and Rotherhithe to Greenwich and Hammersmith.